I was (trying to) dive in Hood Canal (Washington) on Monday, the weather was hot (at least for us), around 85 oF and there was no shade in the suit-up area. Drysuit of course, with the water in the mid 50's. I'm slow when gearing up and started sweating profusely as soon as I put on my fleece jammies. More sweating and overheating putting on the rest of my gear and when I was ready to get into the water, my field of vision had narrowed and all I could think of is getting in the water to cool off. My face was reported to be very flushed and red
I stepped in too deep to put my fins on and with the little surge (as in very little) I lost contact with the bottom. Without fins, rock boots don't provide any propulsion and I floundered trying to move closer to shore. Fortunately, another diver was gearing in the water and was able to pull me to where I could contact the bottom and extract myself from the water.
I had in the back of my mind a plan "C" which was to dump all the air from my wing and suit and crawl along the bottom. Fortunately (again) I didn't have to go there.
Lessons learned:
I stepped in too deep to put my fins on and with the little surge (as in very little) I lost contact with the bottom. Without fins, rock boots don't provide any propulsion and I floundered trying to move closer to shore. Fortunately, another diver was gearing in the water and was able to pull me to where I could contact the bottom and extract myself from the water.
I had in the back of my mind a plan "C" which was to dump all the air from my wing and suit and crawl along the bottom. Fortunately (again) I didn't have to go there.
Lessons learned:
- Just like too cold to dive, too warm is a reason to scrub a dive too (at least for me).
- A bottle of cold water to pour over my head while gearing up would have been really useful
- Skip the fleece jammies next time in this type of weather. I'll take being a little cold in the dive in preference to doing this again.